17 Examples of Sports Video Game Cover Art That Make Other Art Embarrassed to Be Art

You may have heard that Barry Sanders will grace the cover of Madden NFL 25 when it hits shelves on Aug. 27. The legendary Lions running back garnered nearly 60 percent of the vote in the final round of fan balloting to beat out Minnesota's Adrian Peterson for the honor.

The classy, classic cover design is worthy of the series' 25th anniversary edition -- and emblematic of the formulaic approach most sports games have embraced for their box art in recent years.

Yet aesthetic conservatism wasn't always the norm. There was a time when box designers let their freak flags fly, often with disastrous consequences. These games came from that time.